Option for a better GPU in the future for the Vaio F series?

Is there any word on possibly upgrading the Vaio F series GPU to something better than the 330M in the future? It is the only thing stopping me from getting a Vaio F , since it won't be too great for gaming. Then everything else about the laptop, I love

 

It's doubtful, since the cooling in this slim laptop can only handle so much. The chassis can't take an ATI card, and the GT335 I believe is a different layout. And in case you hadn't heard even the 330 is in short supply, with no new F-series chassis with the 330 expected until summer.

The 330 is actually pretty decent, able to play any Oblivion/Fallout 3 engined-game at max resolution, and Crysis at 1600 with almost all features maxed.

 

I think people were a little disappointed because the 330 is only slightly more powerful then the 4650 and doesn't really other any technical advantages. Personally, I think the new F is a step back from the last FW, and I hope they can improve it in the future.

 

2 improvements I can think of in the new F, are the move to the Quad-Core i7 CPUs (from the older dual Core Core 2 Duo CPUs) and the transition from ancient DDR2-800 RAM onto modern DDR3-1333 RAM (the new i7s are optimized to take advantage of this fast RAM).

The GPU itself is roughly comparable, IMO. I think if anything, the new F has taken at least a couple of steps forward, when compared to the old FW.

 

my big problem with the f11 is they are kinda flimsy /cheap looking when compared to say an envy or a macbook pro. just seems plasticky

 

The and the envy and the macbook pro look the same anyway. Also, have you ever put your hand underneath an envy? It is like its on fire!

 

Yep, MelodyMaster is right. Relatively any new 40nm graphics chip is in short supply because TSMC hasn't ramped up it's fab yet, because they're having issues with bad yields. But yea, I think the 335m was built just for the M11x so that one is out, but I can see maybe in the future refresh, an NVIDIA Fermi based F. And actually I'd buy the Sony F with the 330 over a lot of other 330's because I know Sony always uses the faster GDDR3 memory. That's one thing they never cheap out on.

 

I suspect the GTX 4x0 DirectX 11 cards are several months away, I'm not sure what the F-series can use as a faster card meanwhile.

 

They'll probably keep the 330m for a while. Look at how long the FW had the ATI 4650. The 4650 was and still is a great card, but Sony doesn't really refresh their video options that much. Plus, on top of that, the 330m is integrated onto the motherboard and isn't MXM... so no upgrading.

 

The 3650 was replaced with the 4650, so I suspect the 4 series Nvidia will replace the 3 series nvidia. Normally I would say it would be a while off, but the CW went from the 230 to the 330 in only a few months. Maybe we will see the same with the F series.

 

According to notebookcheck.net, the 4650 is actually faster than 330. They listed 4650 several cards above the 330 http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-4650.13883.0.html

 

No, you're missing the point, the GPU in the 330 is giving poor yields on the production line, there aren't nearly enough being made to keep up to demand, so the new F-series except for a small percentage of prebuilts are stuck with the GT310. There is no 330 EQUIVALENT to keep up with demand for the faster gaming and Cuda-capable laptops UNTIL a new Nvidia card comes. It's not an option to "keep the 330 for a while."

So I suspect laptops currently marketed around the 330 will be the earliest beneficiaries of the 400-series cards. They're going to ramp up the timeline on the 400s rather than continue overexpenditure on the cost-inefficient 330s.

This is an issue with Nvidia's production, nothing to do with Sony's philosophy on refreshes.

 

I personally think it will be a long while before the 330 gets replaced in the new F-series with a different card. If you feel the 330 (with 1GB GDDR3 VRAM) does not satisfy your needs, and you absolutely must have a more powerful card, then you simply have to look elsewhere. Manufacturers don't change key specs like a video card etc., on a whim.

As it stands, the F-series is perfect for my needs, based on the specs that can be CTOd on it (Quad-core i7-820QM, 8GB DDR3-1333 RAM, Bluray burner, 1920x1080 screen with 330M GPU with 1GB VDDR3 VRAM etc).

 

Oh, I see what you're saying..lol And yes, I agree! The CW's were notoriously hard to get with the 230m. Sony could see how much money they're losing by sticking with the low yielding 330m and see how many more notebooks they could sell at the same price-point with a 5750 or a rebadged 5165.